Overstock.com

Full review
Overstock.com employs highly deceptive practices to avoid paying full refunds to customers.

After reading favorable reviews, I purchased a dress from Overstock.com.  In order to try the dress on and inspect its quality, I had to remove the plastic liner it arrived in.  Despite reviews that said the dress fit true to size, it didn't even fit over my head!  Furthermore, I found the dress to be of poor quality.  With the intention of returning it, I folded the dress the way I received it and put it directly into a new envelope. 

The online return process was easy.  I printed my label and shipped the item back to Overstock.com.  I was pleased and expected the entire return process to go just as smoothly.

I was shocked to find that Overstock.com kept $23.20 of my $34.99 purchase and issued me a $11.79 refund!  I expected to lose about $6 in return shipping and have the remainder refunded to me.  However, Overstock.com said that the item was "non-restockable" because of "hair" and charged a $17.50 fee to accept the return.  That's 50% of the purchase price!  I was horrified and insulted.

Without further explanation, I can only assume that Overstock.com is claiming the item to be too covered in hair to restock and resell it.  This is ridiculous!  I have purchased and returned ill-fitting apparel on many occasions, and never have I encountered such an issue, either online or in a retail location.  The only difference between the way I received this dress and the way I returned it was the plastic bag and original envelope it came in.  I very carefully ensured that this item was returned the way I had received it.  Any other retailer would have issued a refund in full.

There is nothing in Overstock.com's refund policy that warns a customer that this might happen.  If I had known, I would probably not have purchased it in the first place, as a stray hair has been known to fall from my head when trying on clothes.  I find it an extremely deceptive practice that would allow this company to keep 67% of my money on an item that was returned in the condition it was received: new with tags.

Though I had been a satisfied Overstock.com customer in the past, I cannot support a company with this kind of hidden "refund" policy.  It seems to me that Overstock.com only wants to dump poor quality merchandise and charge customers for having to take that merchandise back.